Ezekiel 5:1 - Exposition

Take thee a barber's razor, etc. The series of symbolic acts is carried further. Recollections of Isaiah and Leviticus mingle strangely in the prophet's mind. The former had made the "razor" the symbol of the devastation wrought by an invading army ( Isaiah 7:20 ). The latter had forbidden its use for the head and beard of the priests (Le Leviticus 19:27 ; Leviticus 21:5 ). Once again Ezekiel is commanded to do a forbidden thing as a symbolic act. He is, for the moment, the representative of the people of Jerusalem, and there is to be, as of old, a great destruction of that people as "by a razor that is hired." The word for "barber" (perhaps "hair cutter") does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament, but its use may be noted as showing that then, as now, the "barber" was a recognized institution in every Eastern town. The word for "knife" ( Joshua 5:2 ; 1 Kings 18:28 ) is used in verse 2, and commonly throughout the Old Testament, for "sword," and is so translated here by the LXX . and Vulgate. The prophet is to take a "sword" and use it as a razor, to make the symbolism more effective.